Adjustable hanger



Aug. 31, 1965 H. F. KNAPE ADJUSTABLE HANGER Filed Dec. 9, 1963 R5 w/ m; y T I m 5 M m United States Patent 3,203,028 ADJUSTABLE HANGER Herbert F. Knape, Grand Rapids, Mich., assignor to Knape and Vogt Manufacturing (30., Grand Rapids, Mich, a corporation of Michigan Filed Dec. 9, 1963, Ser. No. 329,143 Claims. (Cl. 16105) This invention relates to sliding door assemblies, and more particularly to a suspension bracket for sliding type doors.

Interior doors slidable on an overhead track rail should be exactly vertically positioned with respect to the floor. A sliding door elevated excessively from the floor will swing transversely. This causes danger of its becoming dislodged from the track. On the other hand, if it is too low, it will drag on the floor. If one end is lower than the other, the door will not be plumb with respect to the door jamb.

Older methods of adjusting sliding doors with respect to the suspension brackets upon which they are mounted, required removal of the brackets and replacing them at a selected variation. More recently, brackets which are adjustable without removal from the door have become known. These units employ special rotational cams positioned between the hanger bracket mounted on the rail, and the mounting bracket attached to the door. The came cooperates with a special cam follower on one of these elements to provide the adjustment. Actual adjustment is made by the insertion of a screwdriver blade in a transverse screw-slot.

The prior types normally require several components, including a relatively expensive rotational cam of exact surface configuration. This cam requires special expensive forming steps such as machining, die casting, molding or the like.

Another disadvantage of this prior type unit is that the screw-slot for adjustment becomes quickly worn with usage, to elevate the weight of the door by twisting the cam on its axis. Once a slot is stripped and useless, replacement of the cam, and often of the entire bracket, becomes necessary. This situation is further aggravated by the absence of any significant leverage for twisting the screw-slot cam. Thus, workmen can, by applying too much rotational force, readily strip this slot in their efforts to elevate the weight of the door.

It is an object of this invention to provide a novel, vertically adjustable bracket for sliding doors, enabling accurate vertical adjustment without any special cam elements being employed or necessary.

It is another object of this invention to provide a simple mounting bracket for sliding doors, with the complete bracket being formed of two main pieces uniquely cooperative with mounting screws to provide both suspension characteristics and vertical adjustment characteristics. All of the parts can be manufactured and assembled without any expensive machining, casting or molding, and in fact can be formed from inexpensive metal stampings.

It is another object of this invention to provide a suspension bracket which employs the mounting screws themselves for suspension of the door and as moving cam elements in cooperation with stamped openings in the bracket elements. The screws move vertically along a gradulated scale to indicate the relative vertical position of the ends of the door with respect to the floor.

Another object of this invention is to provide a suspension bracket which affords excellent leverage for vertical adjustment of the door, enabling a screw-driver or any other like tool to be inserted and used to its full 3,263,628 Patented Aug. 31, 1965 "ice length for adjustment leverage. No small, readily worn slots or their equivalent are needed or employed.

These and several other objects of this invention will become readily apparent upon studying the following specification in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view of the novel assembly;

FIG. 2 is an end elevational view of the assmbly in FIG. 1, shown mounting a door to a track;

FIG. 3 is a front elevational view of the hanger element of the bracket assembly;

FIG. 4 is a front elevational view of the mounting bracket of the assembly; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view taken on plane V-V of FIG. 1.

Referring now specifically to the drawings, the combination bracket assembly 10 is shown suspended from conventional track means 12 and mounting a door 14.

The assembly 10 includes the two main components of a hanger bracket subassembly 16 and a mounting bracket subassembly 18.

The hanger bracket subassembly 16 includes a main plate 20 of sheet metal, having a pair of rearwardly directed side flanges 22 and 24. In the central portion of plate 20 is a pair of linearly elongated, vertically oriented and vertically spaced slots 26 and 28. Formed in the outer face of plate 20 adjacent these slots are indicia graduations 30- and 32 respectively. The upper portion of plate 20 is bent rearwardly the width of the side flanges (see FIG. 2). It extends upwardly from this rearwardly directed portion to form an offset, vertical, platelike flange 36.

Attached to this flange by a rivet 38 is a cross piece 40. On the end of the cross piece two rollers 42 and 44 are mounted. These rollers, mounted on axles 46 and 48, respectively, are positioned in the V track por tion of the elongated overhead mounting track 12. In the main portion of plate 20, offset from vertical slots 26 and 28 and laterally thereof, is an opening 50. This entire assembly, except for the wheels or rollers, can be formed by simple die stamping techniques, preferably employing progressive dies.

Mounting bracket 18 includes a main plate portion 60, with a downwardly extending leg 62. An opening 64 is die cut into the face of plate 60 coincident with opening 50 to receive a pivotal connecting rivet 66 (FIG. 1). This forms a pivotal connection of the mounting plate behind the hanger plate within side flanges 22 and 24.

The downwardly extending leg 62 of mounting plate 60 includes a portion forming a tool-receiving opening 70 (FIG. 5). This is especially useful for receiving the blade of a screw driver, but can also be actuated with other like tools with an elongated configuration or portion. Mounting plate 60 is also provided with two generally arcuate slots 74 and 76, with one being alongside opening 64, and the other beneath and offset from opening 64. Slot 74 has a smaller radius of curvature than slot 76 and is located closer to opening 64. The center of curvature of both of these slots is near to, but offset from, orifice 64. It is thus offset from the pivotal axis of the two bracket elements with respect to each other.

When the two plates are pivotally mounted by rivet 66, arcuate slot 76 crosses slot 28, and arcuate slot 74 crosses slot 26. In the overlapping or crossing zones, at through opening is defined to receive mounting screws 30 and 82. The vertical position of the coincident openings to form the screw receiving orifices will vary, depending upon the pivotal position of mounting element 18 with respect to hanger element 16. Thus, referring to FIG. 1, as the mounting element is moved from the the two plates.

position shown in solid lines (on the left side of the drawing), to the position shown in phantom lines (on the right side of the drawing), arcuate slots 74 and 76 will shift from the dotted lines to the phantom lines. This will cause mounting screws 80 and 82 to vertically shift in the vertically oriented linear slots 26 and 28, along the graduations. Raising of the mounting screws also elevates door 14 to which they are attached. Of course, in order for this action to occur, the mounting screws 80 and 82 must be loosened to allow movement between When the screws are tightened, the assembly is fixed vertically. When they are loosened, and a screw driver is inserted into opening 70, leverage can be applied to pivot the mounting plate behind the hanger plate and adjacent the door to cause the screws to be forced upwardly in the slot. Of course, movement in the opposite direction will lower the screws and thus lower the door.

Consequently, referring to FIG. 2 the door can be moved from a position where its upper surface 15 is as shown in solid lines, to a position where the upper surface is lowered to that shown in phantom lines at 15'. Extensive leverage is obtained with adjustment since the screw driver is oriented on an axis directed generally radially toward the pivot point and mounting screws in the plane of the mounting plate.

Readily apparent to those in the art is the simplicity of this structure, its capacity of formation by simple, progressive die techniques, its relatively inexpensive construction free from any costly, specially formed camming elements, and its excellent leverage capacity.

In addition to these factors, several other advantages will undoubtedly occur to those in this field upon studying the specification and drawing. Also, it is conceivable that minor modifications could be made in the detailed construction to suit a particular type of situation, door, or bracket design, without departing from the inventive concept set forth herein. Consequently, the invention is not to be limited merely to the particular details of the preferred embodiment of the invention as shown, but only by the scope of the appended claims, and the reasonably equivalent structures to those defined therein.

I claim: Y

1. A vertically adjustable mounting bracket for a sliding door, comprising: hanger means for movement along a guide track, and door mounting means; a pivotal connection between said hanger means and door mounting means; and a slot and pin connection between said means including vertical linear slot means in said hanger means and overlapping arcuate slot means in said mounting means; screw means extending through said overlapping slot means and beyond for extension into the door; said slot means and screw means providing with an arcuate path of ajustment movement having a center of curvature near to but offset from said pivotal connection and radially extending means allowing pivotal movement and thus vertical adjustment of said door mounting means by vertical shifting of said screw means, when loosened, with pivoting of said radial extending means and said mounting means.

2. A vertically adjustable mounting bracket for a sliding door, comprising: hanger means for movement along a guide track, and door mounting means; a pivotal connecting between said means; vertical linear slot means in said hanger means and a pair of spaced arcuate slot means in said mounting means, overlapping said linear slot means; mounting screw means extending through said overlapping slot means and beyond for extension into the door; and a sliding connection between said amounting screw means and said other means, when said screw means are loosened, the sliding movement thereof being on a generally arcuate path, the center of curvature of which is non-coincident with said pivotal connection to cause vertical adjustment with pivoting of said door mounting means by vertical shifting of said screw means, when loosened, with pivoting of said door mounting means.

3. A vertically adjustable mounting bracket for a sliding door, comprising: hanger means for movement along a guide track, and door mounting means; a pivotal connection between said means; a pair of vertically oriented, vertically spaced slots in said hanger means; a pair of spaced curved slots in said mounting means; said curved slots overlapping said vertical slots in different portions thereof depending upon the pivotal position of said mounting means on said hanger means; and said pair of door mounting screws extending through said slots for attachment to the door, whereby by pivoting said means with respect to each other, said screws can be vertically shifted to vertically adjust the door.

4. The assembly in claim 3 wherein said mounting means includes tool receiving means extending radially from said pivotal connection for high leverage pivoting of said mounting means.

5. A sliding door bracket assembly comprising: a hanger plate having roller means for engagement with an overhead track; a mounting plate for attachment to a door; an off-center pivotal connection between said plates; a plurality of spaced slots in each of said plates; the slots in said hanger plate being linearly elongated, and the slots in said mounting plate being arcuate in configuration, with a center of curvature near to but offset from said pivotal connection, said arcuate slots crossing said linear slots at different vertical positions depending upon the pivotal position of said plates with respect to each other; and means extending through the crossing portions of said slots whereby with pivoting of said mounting plate with respect to said hanger plate, the overlapping poistions of said slots will vary to thereby elevate said extending means and the door to be mounted.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,522,079 1/25 Read 248299 2,296,323 9/42 Allen 16-105 2,843,872 7/58 Hannon 16105 3,030,060 4/62 Breuer 248-265 FOREIGN PATENTS 44,227 7/27 Norway.

DONLEY, I. STOCKING, Primary Examiner. 

1. A VERTICALLY ADJUSTABLE MOUNTING BRACKET FOR A SLIDING DOOR, COMPRISING: HANGER MEANS FOR MOVEMENT ALONG A GUIDE TRACK, AND DOOR MOUNTING MEANS; A PIVOTAL CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID HANGER MEANS AND DOOR MOUNTING MEANS; AND A SLOT AND PIN CONNECTION BETWEEN SAID MEANS INCLUDING VERTICAL LINEAR SLOT MEANS IN SAID HANGER MEANS AND OVERLAPPING ARCUATE SLOT MEANS IN SAID MOUNTING MEANS; SCREW MEANS EXTENDING THROUGH SAID OVERLAPPING SLOT MEANS AND BEYOND FOR EXTENSION ITNO THE DOOR; SAID SLOT MEANS AND SCREW MEANS PROVIDING WITH AN ARCUATE PATH OF ADJUSTMENT MOVEMENT HAVING A CENTER OF CURVATURE NEAR TO BUT OFFSET FROM SAID PIVOTAL CONNECTION AND RADIALLY EXTENDING MEANS ALLOWING PIVOTAL MOVEMENT AND THUS VERTICAL ADJUSTMENT OF SAID DOOR MOUNTING MEANS BY VERTICAL SHIFTING OF SAID SCREW MEANS, WHEN LOOSENED, WITH PIVOTING OF SAID RADIAL EXTENDING MEANS AND SAID MOUNTING MEANS. 